General Cycling Discussion - Puked after long ride!

This ever happen to anyone? I went for about a 7 and half hour ride, about 225km, which doesnt seem like much maybe, but its defently the longest ride I went on to date. I got home and had a cold shower and just layed in bed for a while, feeling really awful. After about an hour I felt like I needed to use the bathroom.. sat down and crunched over due to being really tired still, and then it hit me. About 3-4 times in a row, this was convinent 'cause the bathtub was beside me at least. I felt much better after that, just sore (normal).

I think I vomitted due to what I drank on the ride probably, but who knows, I dont think it was due to heat cause it wasnt really that hot today. I've felt really hot while riding before in bad heat, but this ride was no problem. The last thing I drank on the way back was "Powerade", and I dont think my body liked it much, I only drank it a few time before and it never really seemed to sit well with me.

I guess water should be drank on these kind of rides, and only water.

Sometimes it's hard to handle all the sugar in drinks like Powerade. Runners sometimes dilute with water. Try that next time, maybe with another brand of beverage. (You probably won't find the same Powerade too appetizing anyway.)

Any drink (or food, for that matter) that you haven't consumed during strenuous exercise before can cause you problems the first time you use it.

i once puked after riding; it was due more to the alcohol than to the cycling :D

How much did you eat on the ride? You don't mention food.


"I guess water should be drank on these kind of rides, and only water." --- NO!!!! Definitely NOT!!! Yes, water is good, but you should also make sure you are consuming electrolytes from somewhere ... from your sports drink, from the foods you eat, from a pill ... but if you just consume water, you can get into much, much worse difficulties than you experienced.

Sometimes it's hard to handle all the sugar in drinks like Powerade. Runners sometimes dilute with water. Try that next time, maybe with another brand of beverage. (You probably won't find the same Powerade too appetizing anyway.)

Any drink (or food, for that matter) that you haven't consumed during strenuous exercise before can cause you problems the first time you use it.

Any new food or drink should not be taken on a ride. I have a drink additive that I use and even increasing strength of that known drink has caused me problems. Well done on the ride by the way but the puking afterwards shows something has affected you. Perhaps another long ride next weekend without the Powerade to prove that was the cause?

<-- Man with iron stomach its not unusuall for me to chug a couple of glasses of milk just before a run/ride. The other day I skiped breakfast and was starving before our group ride and ended up snaging this mayo infested gas station chicken salad sandwich and wolfed it down right before our 2 hour ride in the super hot Florida sun. They thought I would puke for sure but I felt just fine!

No way could I do 7 hours tho, my seat is too uncomfortable for me I get a brused tailbone from long rides, sounds like you just over did it abit might have somthing to do with what ya ate too, but I dont care what you eat if you push yourself too hard you will puke.

Sounds like early stages of hyponatremia, lack of electrolytes. This causes problems with water-regulation and puking is one of the symptoms. You'll want a drink with more electrolytes, Powerade has minimal amounts. Gatorade's better, but still supplies only 1/2 of the required amount. What a lot of people do is take additional electrolyte supplements on top of Gatorade, or they break open the capsules and dump the contents into the Gatorade. Makes it less sweet-tasting too. :)

Bottom-line is you need about 500-800mg of sodium per hour to replenish what you sweat away.

I'm wondering why you ride for 7 1/2 hours. Is it exercise? Conditioning? transportation?

I'm wondering why you ride for 7 1/2 hours. Is it exercise? Conditioning? transportation?


You almost make 7 1/2 hours sound like an unusually long ride.


http://www.ultracycling.com/
http://www.rusa.org/
http://www.randonneurs.bc.ca/
http://www.randonneursontario.ca/
http://www.machka.net/



BTW - that first site, in particular, will give some tips as to why the OP might have felt ill after the ride.

Dehyration will cause you to vomit. There are times when we wait too long to add fluids and suffer the consequences.

Beckham was a great example of that the other day. A couple of billion viewers watching a world class athlete puking his guts out in the middle of a World Cup game.

You almost make 7 1/2 hours sound like a long ride.


http://www.ultracycling.com/
http://www.rusa.org/
http://www.randonneurs.bc.ca/
http://www.randonneursontario.ca/
http://www.machka.net/



BTW - that first site, in particular, will give some tips as to why the OP might have felt ill after the ride.
I wasn't casting any aspersions (sp?) I was just wondering why the PO did it.

I went on the ride to mainly check out a highway/route, I was thinking of doing some kinda 'tour' when its less hot out. I actually met a rider who has been on the road since June 2nd, crazy!

I didnt eat much at all yesterday actually. I got up at 5am (when i was planning on leaving), had some oatmeal and noticed it was raining outside, so I went back to sleep. I left for my ride at around 12:30 in the afternoon, I just took an apple with me, that was it, probably not smart either!

Dont know if I'll wanna do a ride like that again anytime soon, but who knows. I can handle 4 hour rides just fine and usually do one of those once a week just "exploring".

Only times I puke on a ride are from not drinking enough water...my throat gets dry, sticks to itself, and triggers my gag reflex. Next thing you know, I am moving 5mph head to the side, dry heaving.

This happened yesterday, after a very very intense sprint session.
It's not pleaseant.

I didnt eat much at all yesterday actually. I got up at 5am (when i was planning on leaving), had some oatmeal and noticed it was raining outside, so I went back to sleep. I left for my ride at around 12:30 in the afternoon, I just took an apple with me, that was it, probably not smart either!



Ok, so it sounds like you bonked. Next time you do a ride like that, aim to eat about 250 calories per hour while you are out there instead of 80 calories (the apple) for the whole time. :)


BTW - you should check out the Ontario Randonneur link I posted above.

Ok, so it sounds like you bonked. Next time you do a ride like that, aim to eat about 250 calories per hour while you are out there instead of 80 calories (the apple) for the whole time. :)




Hadn't thought of that but I did a long ride in May- No problem with bonking but a big carb loaded meal the evening before- Cereal breakfast- Plenty of snacks on the ride of the carb loaded variety- a stop 6 hours into the ride for a light lunch of Pasta and we still failed to do the 100. Stopped at 65miles and 10 hours due to the weather conditions and too much mud, wind and rain.

Couple of other items- We also went through 22 litres of water for the pair of us and over 75% of the riders stopped at the 65 mile mark. (These were in the main experienced Offroaders so didn't feel too bad.)

Attachment is at the 60 mile mark on the 15% slope for a mile that finally finished us.

Stapfam:
What is the tandem?
~'spin!~

I didnt eat much at all yesterday actually. I got up at 5am (when i was planning on leaving), had some oatmeal and noticed it was raining outside, so I went back to sleep. I left for my ride at around 12:30 in the afternoon, I just took an apple with me, that was it, probably not smart either!

Dont know if I'll wanna do a ride like that again anytime soon, but who knows. I can handle 4 hour rides just fine and usually do one of those once a week just "exploring".For a ride that burned off a total of 5500 calories +/-500, you certainly didn't eat enough. Assuming you were fully stocked up from eating the day & night before, let's work out the numbers, we've got:

2000 calories glycogen in muscles
500 calories in liver & bloodstream
1500 calories from fat-metabolism (200cal/hr * 7.5 hrs)
300 calories oatmeal
80 calories apple
150 calories Powerade
---------------
4530 calories available

So you were definitely short by 1000 calories+ for energy. You were setting quite a brisk pace of 30kph too, I'm not sure how fit you are, but that may make your calories from burning fat even lower than the 200cal/hr I assumed for a fit rider riding at 70% of max. At that pace, you may have made it to 5-hours just fine with minimal nutrition, but that last 2.5 hours and 75km did you in.

Stapfam:
What is the tandem?
~'spin!~

Started as a Cannondale MT 2000 but Although the frame is original- all parts have been changed to Freeride or Downhill quality- Forks are boxer race with the heaviest weight springs- Spacers to take up sag and heaviest weight oil. (20). Wheels are Hope bigun hubs with 36 straight gauge spokes to Mavic Downhill rims- (EX729's?) Brakes are hope mono M4's with 200mm discs and drive chain upgraded to XT throughout except for rear mech which is XTR. Rear seatpost is a Cane creek Thudbuster and all items such as bars and stems are Substantial Heavy duty-but still lightweight- Downhill quality Parts.

This thing is slow uphill for any mountain bike but is a full offroader. If a Solo can do it then this will do it with style and faster. Doesn't like big dropoffs due to length of the frame and still having trouble bunny hopping - but it works. This is my regular ride- and don't get me wrong- Tandems don't go round corners- Brakes don't work- steering definitely could do with some improving but they are fantastic fun- ONCE you have a regular team working and you learn to fall properly.

umm, i'm emetophobic (i.e. really scared of throwing up). so i was wondering, is this something i really need to be worried about if i don't ride that hard? i love biking but i've never come close to throwing up and i don't want to have to give this up from fear...

I once threw up...while riding! It's actually pretty funny, I was out just riding not training or anything and this guy came up beside me and said "see you later!" Of course I can't let that go so we are off, I pass him within the first 15 feet but I had to pace myself after that because where we were racing. It's about 8 miles and lots of people. I was riding around 25mph with a top speed of 29 according to my comp. So everything went fine untill we hit the last 1/2 mile uphill part and at the top of that is the finish. I was maybe 10 ft away from the finish and it just comes out and goes all over my bike. I won but then just fell over on the side of the road in some grass and just started laughing! It was pretty funny but I hated cleaning my bike later. -Will

I almost did once after a mini TT

maintained though.

Mothra: Those numbers sound pretty close actually, I'd say I ran out of gas after about 5 hours. I was thinking of doing the same ride when my next day off comes up to see how it goes bringing sufficiant food and drink along with.

Funny after getting home from it I was like "yeah Im not doing that again anytime soon!" but the next day I was all for it.

Sometimes when I work outside on hot days, I drink 4 bottles or more of gatorade. My record was 8 bottles, every one of which I needed. If your body looses sodium by sweating, its important to replace it.

It is possible to vomit just from riding too hard for too long. Training can help that.

"Pedal till you Puke" is not just a bumper sticker.